Handing difficult customers and complaints isn’t easy

In difficult situations it’s tough to think clearly and act logically – we’re going to ask for expert advice but we’d like to highlight some of the issues we all face regularly. So please share your experiences . . . hopefully we can all learn how to cope better in these stressful moments.

Share your pain! Please tell us about your really tricky customer experiences.

We’ve all had to deal with tricky customers – and so often it’s very difficult to know what to say or do. This is particularly true when it seems the quality of your work is being called in to question. Frankly, when you start to feel angry or under attack it’s very difficult to deal with these situations.
Experts tell us there are techniques we can use to cope better – there are practical tips for taking the heat out of a potential crisis, questions we can ask to avoid becoming defensive and ways in which we can try and turn an angry customer into a happy one.

A bit less stress is always a good thing – but coping better is becoming more and more important from a business perspective because angry and unhappy customers are free to vent their feelings on social media. Clearly, we don’t want our ordinary customers to be reading terrible things about us!

YOUR ANONIMITY IS GUARANTEED

We are hoping to build some case files – using real life examples of situations that have been very difficult to deal with. We can then challenge our experts to offer advice on how we deal with similar situations in the future. So if you’ve got a nasty story you’re prepared to share please get in touch. Don’t worry – anything you tell us will remain strictly confidential and we will only publish case files where names and places have been removed. We’re looking for:

Outright lies!

Have you been accused of things that just didn’t happen?

Unreasonable demands!

Clearly you’ll always try and do your best – but have you been asked/told to do things that you just couldn’t or wouldn’t do?

Payment problems!

Has the value of your work been challenged? Have you suffered the injustice of someone refusing to pay?

Insults and abuse?

Sweary, pointy, aggressive and threatening behaviour just isn’t acceptable . . have you been in the unfortunate position of having to deal with it

Legal threats!

Have you even been threatened with court action?! This might well open up a can worms but if you suffered like this, then please let us know.
So lots of potential here! Please don’t be shy and let us know about the real life problems you’ve had to deal with!

Get it off your chest!

Tell us briefly in your own words what happened – just give us a little bit of background and we’ll be in touch to ask a few more questions. Don’t worry we won’t publish anything without your approval and , of course, we guarantee anonymity. Please use the contact form to send us a note.
Thanks for your help – hopefully we can find some solutions that will help everyone.